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A need is something that is necessary for organisms to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death. Needs can be objective and physical, such as food, or they can be subjective and psychological, such as the need for self-esteem. On a social level, needs are sometimes controversial. Understanding needs and wants is an issue in the fields of politics, social science, and philosophy.

Psychological definition[link]

To most psychologists, need is a psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a goal, giving purpose and direction to behavior.

The most widely known academic model of needs was proposed by psychologist Abraham Maslow. In his theory, he proposed that people have a hierarchy of psychological needs, which range from security to self-actualization. However, while this model is intuitively appealing, it has been difficult to operationalize it experimentally. It was further developed by Clayton Alderfer.

The academic study of needs was at its zenith in the 1950s. It receives less attention among psychologists today. One exception is Richard Sennett's work on the importance of respect.

One of the problems with a psychological theory of needs is that conceptions of "need" may vary radically between different cultures or different parts of the same society. One person's view of need may easily be seen as paternalistic by another.

Doyal and Gough's definition[link]

A second view of need is represented by the work of political economy professor Ian Gough. He has published on the subject of human needs in the context of social assistance provided by the welfare state.^[1] With medical ethics professor Len Doyal,^[2] he also published A Theory of Human Need.

Their view goes beyond the emphasis on psychology: it might be said that an individual's needs are representative of the costs of being human within society. A person who does not have his or her needs fulfilled—i.e., a "needy" person—will function poorly in society.

In the view of Gough and Doyal, each person has an objective interest in avoiding serious harm that prevents the endeavor to attain his or her vision of what's good, no matter what that is exactly. This attempt requires the ability to participate in the societal setting in which an individual lives. More specifically, each person needs to have both physical health and personal autonomy. The latter refers to the capacity to make informed choices about what should be done and how to implement that. This requires mental health, cognitive skills, and chances to participate in society's activities and collective decision-making.

How are such needs satisfied? Doyal and Gough point to eleven broad categories of "intermediate needs" that define how the need for physical health and personal autonomy are fulfilled:

1. Adequate nutritional food and water
2. Adequate protective housing
3. A safe environment for working
4. A supply of clothing
5. A safe physical environment
6. Appropriate health care
7. Security in childhood
8. Significant primary relationships with others
9. Physical security
10. Economic security
11. Safe birth control and child-bearing
12. Appropriate basic and cross-cultural education.

How are the details of needs satisfaction determined? The authors point to rational identification of needs using the most up-to-date scientific knowledge; the use of the actual experience of individuals in their everyday lives; and democratic decision-making. The satisfaction of human needs cannot be imposed "from above".

This theory should be compared to the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. Those with more internal "assets" or "capacities" (e.g., education, sanity, physical strength, etc.) have more capabilities (i.e., more available choices, more positive freedom). They are thus more able to escape or avoid poverty. Those with more capabilities fulfill more of their needs.

Other views[link]

The concept of intellectual need has been studied in education.

In his 1844 Paris Manuscripts, Karl Marx famously defined humans as "creatures of need" or "needy creatures" who experienced suffering in the process of learning and working to meet their needs.^[3] These needs were both physical needs as well as moral, emotional and intellectual needs. According to Marx, human development is characterized by the fact that in the process of meeting their needs, humans develop new needs, implying that at least to some extent they make and remake their own nature. This idea is discussed in more detail by the Hungarian philosopher Ágnes Heller in A Theory of Need in Marx (London: Allison and Busby, 1976). Political economy professor Michael Lebowitz^[4] has developed the Marxian interpretation of needs further in two editions of his book Beyond Capital.^[5]

Professor György Márkus systematized Marx's ideas about needs as follows: humans are different from other animals because their vital activity, work, is mediated to the satisfaction of needs (an animal who manufactures tools to produce other tools or his/her satisfactors), which makes a human being a universal natural being capable to turn the whole nature into the subject of his/her needs and his/her activity, and develops his/her needs and abilities (essential human forces) and develops himself/herself, a historical-universal being. Work generates the breach of the animal subject-object fusion, thus generating the possibility of human conscience and self-conscience, which tend to universality (the universal conscious being). A human being's conditions as a social being are given by work, but not only by work as it is not possible to live a human being without a relationship with others: work is social because human beings work for each other with means and abilities produced by prior generations. Human beings are also free entities able to accomplish, during their lifetime, the objective possibilities generated by social evolution, on the basis of their conscious decisions. Freedom should be understood both in a negative (freedom to decide and to establish relationships) and a positive sense (dominion over natural forces and development of human creativity, of the essential human forces. To sum up, the essential interrelated traits of human beings are: a) work is their vital activity; b) human beings are conscious beings; c) human beings are social beings; d) human beings tend to universality, which manifests in the three previous traits and make human beings natural-historical-universal, social-universal and universal conscious entities, and e) human beings are free.^[6]

In his texts about what he calls "moral economics", professor Julio Boltvinik Kalinka asserts that the ideas exposed by David Wiggins about needs are correct but insufficient: needs are of a normative nature but they are also factual. These "gross ethical concepts" (as stated by Hilary Putnam) should also include an evaluation: Ross Fitzgerald's criticism of Maslow's ideas rejects the concept of objective human needs and uses instead the concept of preferences. They^[who?] assume, just like many other logical positivists, that values cannot be rational and assert, therefore, that the definition of poverty threshold, a task charged with values, is an arbitrary action of researchers, an assumption which implies a narrow view of poverty.^[6]

Marshall Rosenberg's model of Compassionate Communication, also known as Nonviolent Communication (NVC)^[7] makes the distinction between universal human needs (what sustains and motivates human life) and specific strategies used to meet these needs. In contrast to Maslow, Rosenberg's model does not place needs in a hierarchy.^[8] In this model, feelings are seen as indicators of when human needs are met or unmet. One of the intended outcomes of Rosenberg's model is to support humans in developing an awareness of what life-sustaining needs are arising within them and others moment by moment so that they may more effectively and compassionately find strategies to meet their own needs as well as contribute to meeting the needs of others.

People also talk about the needs of a community or organization. Such needs might include demand for a particular type of business, for a certain government program or entity, or for individuals with particular skills. This is an example of metonymy in language and presents with the logical problem of reification.

See also[link]

• Fundamental human needs
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs
• Need theory (McClelland)
• Want
• Murray's system of needs
• Simple living

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Ian Gough (1994) Economic Institutions and the Satisfaction of Human Needs. Journal of Economic Issues. vol. 28, no. 1 (March 9), pp. 25–66.

External links[link]

Look up need in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

www.fixedneeds.com: All needs we experience

Skylar Grey
Skylar Grey singing at the Tibet Talk For World Peace in July 2011
Background information
Birth name	Holly Brook Hafermann[1]
Also known as	Holly Brook[2]
Born	(1986-02-23) February 23, 1986 (age 26)
Origin	Mazomanie, Wisconsin, United States
Genres	Pop, soul, folk rock, rock, hip hop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active	2004–present
Labels	KIDinaKORNER, Interscope, Machine Shop
Website	www.skylargreymusic.com

Holly Brook Hafermann (born February 23, 1986) better known by her stage name Skylar Grey, is an five-time Grammy-nominated American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Grey was signed to Machine Shop Recordings under the name Holly Brook. She released her debut album as Holly Brook, Like Blood Like Honey, in 2006. She co-wrote the three versions of "Love the Way You Lie" (for Eminem and Rihanna) with Alex da Kid, who signed her to his Wonderland Music label. She was featured as a guest vocalist on Fort Minor's "Where'd You Go" and "Be Somebody", Diddy-Dirty Money's "Coming Home", Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor", Lupe Fiasco's "Words I Never Said" and Kaskade's "Room for Happiness".

Life and career[link]

2001–2010: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Grey performed professionally as a child in a folk duo with her mother called Generations.^[3] Together, (with producer/engineer Randy Green) they independently produced three albums, Dream Maker, Lift Me, and Millennial Child/Waiting For You. Grey started her first band at the age of fifteen after 'sneaking' into bars, working with jazz musicians including Jeff Eckles, Tim Whalen and Leo Sidran in Madison, Wisconsin.

In 2003, Grey moved to Los Angeles and recorded a demo as Holly Brook, which would be her stage name for several years. This demo led to her being signed in the fall of 2004 by Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson to the band's vanity label, Machine Shop Recordings; she was 18 years old. Her voice is featured on the Fort Minor songs "Where'd You Go" and "Be Somebody". Working with producer Jonathan Ingoldsby, Brook released her debut album, Like Blood Like Honey, on June 6, 2006. She landed opening spots for tours with Jamie Cullum, KD Lang, Daniel Powter, Teddy Geiger and Duncan Sheik.

In 2010, Brook lent both her song "It's Raining Again" and her image to a promotional campaign for Ciao Water.^[4] Prior to this, she has appeared on albums by other artists, including Brie Larson's Finally Out of P.E. and Fort Minor's The Rising Tied. Brook has toured with as part of Duncan Sheik's band, and appears heavily on his 2009 album Whisper House. At the beginning in 2010 she also performed in the theatrical version of "Whisper House," playing one of the two lead ghost vocalists along with David Poe.^[5] Also in 2010, she self-released the seven-song O’Dark:Thirty EP, produced by Duncan Sheik and Jon Ingoldsby.^[6] In 2009, Brook appeared as a backing vocalist on Eurovision contestant, Yohanna's debut album, Butterflies and Elvis.

[edit] 2011: Invinsible

Brook later changed her name to Skylar Grey. She explained that “it represents the unknowns in life. People seem to be afraid of the unknowns, but I’m the complete opposite. I dive into the unknown because I feel like that’s where all your possibilities come from.”^[7] She explained to Beatweek that she chose "grey" with an e rather than an a because “I like to do things the original way" and because "it’s more masculine. I’m not a very feminine person."^[8]

She was still living in Oregon and had no recognition as Skylar Grey. Grey went to New York to meet her publisher, Jennifer Blakeman, who played Grey the song "Airplanes" by B.O.B and Hayley Williams and produced by Alex da Kid; Grey liked what she heard so Blakeman introduced her and Alex da Kid via e-mail. Alex da Kid sent Grey a few tracks he had been working on and the first song she wrote was "Love The Way You Lie".

Alex da Kid signed her to a production deal on his KIDinaKORNER imprint.^[9] She wrote the hook to all three versions of "Love the Way You Lie" by rapper Eminem and Rihanna as well as all of the lyrics and melody to versions II and III of the song. She can be heard performing the demo for all versions of the song. Grey earned a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year for her writing contributions to "Love the Way You Lie".^[10] She also co-wrote Diddy-Dirty Money's "Coming Home",^[11] along with "Castle Walls" by T.I. and Christina Aguilera.^[12] On March 10, 2011, Diddy-Dirty Money performed the single "Coming Home" with Grey and Dirty Money vocalists, Dawn Richard and Kalenna Harper, live on American Idol.^[13]

She is also a writer and featured guest on "I Need a Doctor".^[14] Grey is also featured on Lupe Fiasco's third studio album Lasers, on the second single, "Words I Never Said" and was also featured in the live performance of the song, with Lupe, on The Colbert Report on May 9, 2011. Grey made her live performance debut under her new alias during the 53rd Grammy Awards, performing "I Need a Doctor" alongside Eminem and Dr. Dre. She is currently working on her solo studio album Invinsible with Alex Da Kid. She has signed to Interscope Records through Da Kid's KIDinaKORNER,^[15] and her first promotional buzz single "Dance Without You"^[16] was released on June 6, 2011, with the official music video being released on July 5.^[17] The first official single "Invisible" was released to radio on June 16. On July 9, 2011, Grey performed live at the World Peace Event in Washington, DC, appearing along with the 14th Dalai Lama.^[18][19] On 6 August, she performed at the 20th Lollapalooza festival as both a solo artist and with Eminem during the song "I Need A Doctor". The next day, while passing by the area where YouTube sensation Karmin was recording their cover of "I Need A Doctor," Grey joined the duo for an impromptu performance.^[20] She performed alongside rapper Eli Porter on the September 20, 2011 episode of Tosh.0.

Grey also featured on Kaskade's 2011 album Fire & Ice, writing and singing on two versions of the song "Room for Happiness", which became the album's third single.

It was also reported that Grey would be contributing to The Band Perry's sophomore album, which is set to be released in 2012.^[21][22]

On April 1, 2012 Grey performed the hit song Invinsible with Machine Gun Kelly at Wrestlemania XXVIII before John Cena's entrance at the main event against Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Influences[link]

Grey has listed Garbage, Joni Mitchell, Marilyn Manson, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Sarah McLachlan and Death Cab for Cutie as her influences.^[23][24]

Discography[link]

• Like Blood Like Honey (2006)
• Invinsible (2012)

EP

• Holly Brook EP (2005)
• Sony CONNECT Sets (2005)
• O'Dark:Thirty EP (2010)
• The Buried Sessions of Skylar Grey (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• skylargrey's channel on YouTube
• Skylar Grey on Facebook
• Skylar Grey on Twitter

Rob Dyrdek

Dyrdek on April 24, 2010
Personal information
Full name	Robert Stanley Dyrdek
Nationality	American
Born	(1974-06-28) June 28, 1974 (age 37)[1] Kettering, Ohio, United States
Residence	Hollywood, California
Height	5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m)
Weight	135 pounds (61 kg)
Website	www.dyrdek.com
Sport
Sport	Skateboarding
Turned pro	1991 (age 16)[2]

Robert Stanley "Rob" Dyrdek (born June 28, 1974) is an American professional skateboarder, actor, entrepreneur, producer, philanthropist, and reality TV star. He is best known for his roles in the reality shows Rob and Big, Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory and Ridiculousness.

Personal life[link]

Rob Dyrdek was born in Kettering, Ohio to Gene and Patty Dyrdek.^[3] Dyrdek was involved in sports as a child and began skateboarding at the age of 11 when he received his first skateboard from professional skater Neil Blender^[4] Of his early interest in the sport, Dyrdek said, "I was a pretty driven young man. I was so focused on becoming a pro skateboarder. I would sit in school and think about all the tricks I was going to do, then I’d get out of school and skate until they made me come inside."^[5] At the age of 12, Rob acquired sponsorship from the same company Blender rode for and began his skateboarding career. A few years later, Dyrdek and Blender quit their board sponsor and created Alien Workshop – Rob’s current board company.^[6]

At the age of 16, Dyrdek decided to forgo his senior year of high school and instead moved to Southern California to pursue his professional skate career. Soon after moving, Dyrdek began to ride for Droors Clothing (now known as DC Shoes), where he also began his exploring entrepreneurship through shoe design. This led Dyrdek to launch various short-lived companies, including a hip-hop record label and a skate shop.^[6]

Dyrdek has one sister, Denise. His cousins Christopher "Drama" Pfaff and Scott "Big Cat" Pfaff (Drama's older brother) are featured in Rob and Big and Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory.^[7] He also has two bulldogs named Meaty and Beefy.^[8]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Dyrdek first starred in an MTV reality series, entitled Rob & Big (aired November 2006 to April 2008), with his best friend and bodyguard Christopher "Big Black" Boykin, as well as his cousin, Chris "Drama" Pfaff. After three seasons Boykin chose to leave the show when his long time girlfriend had a baby.

In February 2009 Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, featuring Dyrdek, Pfaff, and his Dyrdek Enterprise staff, was first aired. The "Fantasy Factory" is a converted warehouse where Dyrdek runs his many entrepreneurial ventures. It also features a large indoor skate plaza, Rob's personal office with "bat cave" parking garage, a foam pit, and numerous basketball hoops. He also built a "hands of God" music studio for his cousin "Drama" Pfaff inside the factory. During the course of the first season, he also opened his first SafeSpot SkateSpot with the sponsorship of Carl's Jr. At the grand-opening, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa rode with Dyrdek on the world's largest skateboard.

Dyrdek was also featured in the video games skate., and Skate 2 (which also featured "Big Black"). During the days of Rob & Big, the two were featured in an episode where they were actually going to the EA building to shoot for the game. In Skate 2, the player is able to purchase an early version of the Fantasy Factory on the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store as an add-on, allowing the player to skate within the factory premises.

Dyrdek made a movie entitled "Street Dreams" in 2009.

On August 29, 2011, he started a show on MTV, called Ridiculousness, where he comments internet videos, mainly about extreme sports mishaps.^[9]

World records[link]

Dyrdek has set 21 separate Guinness World Records for skateboarding as part of his former show Rob & Big. Big Black also set two eating records for the show; most bananas peeled and eaten and most powdered donuts eaten in a set period of time.^[10]

In Fantasy Factory, Dyrdek also set the record for the largest skateboard (according to the GBWR website it is listed as the Longest Skateboard in the world) after he decided that the current record holders were undeserving.^[11]

Dyrdek's personal bests (some of which have been broken since) include:

• Consecutive front-side ollies: 46 (2007, WR)
• Ollie big spins: 12 (2007, WR)
• Consecutive nollie kickflips: 73 (2007, WR)
• 360-degree kickflips in one minute: 12 (2007, WR)
• Heel flips in one minute: 15 (2007, WR)
• Consecutive ollies: 215 (2007)
• Nollie kickflips in one minute: 22 (2007, WR)
• Longest stationary manual: 49 seconds (2007, WR)
• Switch frontside kickflips in one minute: 9 (2007, WR)
• Longest 50-50 rail grind: 100 feet 5.75 inches (30.62 m) (2007, WR)^[12]
• Longest board slide: 100 feet 5.75 inches (30.62 m) (2007, WR)^[13]
• Highest skateboard ramp jump into water: 10 feet 8 inches (3.29 m) (2007, WR)^[14]

Sponsors, brands and partnerships[link]

Dyrdek is sponsored by DC Shoes, Alien Workshop, silver trucks, and Monster Energy. Dyrdek's properties include 'Wild Grinders', Street League Skateboarding, The Rob Dyrdek Foundation and Megahorse Racing. In addition, Dyrdek has partnerships with various brands including Bill My Parents, ISX(TM) (Instant Scoring Experience) and DTA Rogue Status with musician Travis Barker.^[8]

'Wild Grinders', a fictional cartoon skate crew, is Dyrdek's first venture into toys based on him and his group of childhood skateboarding friends. The line consists of six characters.

Dyrdek also pioneered the iSX, Instant Scoring Experience, which he hopes will revolutionize the way skate competitions are held. He is the creator of the Street League Skateboarding - a professional skateboarding contest offering the largest prize purse in skateboarding history and is also broadcasted live on ESPN and ESPN2.^[15]

Dyrdek also has his own signature TAG Body Spray scent called Make Moves. A fraction of the profit will go to his charity organization, The Rob Dyrdek Foundation.^[16]

Rob has also partnered with Chevrolet for the launch of the new Chevy Sonic. As part of the launch campaign, Rob performed a "kickflip" with a Sonic which was a full 360 degree rotation off a ramp and over the world's record largest skateboard which he also created. He performed the stunt at Six Flags Magic Mountain. ^[17]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory
• Rob Dyrdek at the Internet Movie Database

Love Is All is a five-piece indie pop band from Gothenburg, Sweden. It releases songs in English. Paste Magazine has stated that it makes "infectiously lo-fi punk rock laced with saxophone and melodic vocals".^[1]

Biography[link]

Swedish band Love Is All are composed of Josephine Olausson (vocals, keyboard), Johan Lindwall (bass), Markus Görsch (drums), James Ausfahrt (saxophone), and Nicholaus Sparding (guitar/vocals). Olausson, Sparding, and Görsch had previously been members of Girlfriendo. The trio promptly regrouped after that band's demise and added Lindwall, who had recorded in a side project with Olausson and Sparding called Cat Skills. They finally added the missing piece with saxophone player Fredrik Eriksson. While earning many rave reviews from the blogging community for their blend of art punk and indie rock, the band released several singles, one of which made single of the week in NME. The singles were collected on the debut LP Nine Times That Same Song, released by New York-based What's Your Rupture? in late 2005. After much touring through 2006 and 2007, Eriksson left the band and Love Is All continued on as a quartet. A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night and the remix album Love Is All Mixed Up arrived in 2008, along with Eriksson's replacement Åke Strömer (saxophone, keyboards). They are currently signed to Polyvinyl Record Co..

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Nine Times That Same Song (What's Your Rupture?) (2005)
• A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night (What's Your Rupture?) (2008)
• Two Thousand and Ten Injuries (Polyvinyl Record Co.) (2010)

Remix Albums[link]

• Love Is All...Mixed Up (What's Your Rupture?) (2008)

Singles and EPs[link]

• "Spinning And Scratching / Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up / Ageing Hard / Never Been His Friend" 7" EP (2003)
• "Lost Thrills" (Dolores Recordings)
• "Felt Tip" (Smashing Time)
• "Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up" (2006) (What's Your Rupture?) #133 UK
• "Busy Doing Nothing" (2006) (What's Your Rupture?) #103 UK
• "Used Goods" (What's Your Rupture?)
• "Ageing Had Never Been His Friend / Nothing To Be Done" (2007) (What's Your Rupture?)
• "Love is All Play 5 Covers" (2008) (self-released)
• "Wishing Well & Covers" (2008) (Emusic)
• "Last Choice" (EP) (2009) (What's Your Rupture?)

References[link]

1. ^ http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2007/02/band-of-the-week-love-is-all.html

External links[link]

• Love is All on MySpace
• Punkcast#886 video of first USA show - Rockies, Brooklyn - Nov 15, 2005 (RealPlayer) (mp4)
• Subculture Magazine review of Nine Times That Same Song
• Subculture Magazine Interview / August 2006
• Adequacy.net's review of Two Thousand And Ten Injuries
• Pitchforkmedia.com's review of Nine Times That Same Song
• Pitchfork interview
• Official Website
• Live Photos from London gig
• Live Audio Melbourne, Australia February 2007
• Revista O Grito! Interview
• Love Is All at The Indie Music Database
• Love is All at exclaim
• Love is All interview
• Love is All at Polyvinyl Record Co.

Pierce Brosnan
Brosnan at Cannes, 2002
Born	Pierce Brendan Brosnan (1953-05-16) 16 May 1953 (age 59) Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland
Occupation	Actor, producer, environmentalist
Years active	1977–present[1]
Home town	Navan, County Meath, Ireland
Spouse	Cassandra Harris (1980–91, her death, 1 child) Keely Shaye Smith (2001–present)

Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years. Following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele (1982–87).

After Remington Steele, Brosnan took the lead in many films such as Dante's Peak and The Thomas Crown Affair. In 1995, he became the fifth actor to portray secret agent James Bond in the official film series, starring in four films between 1995 and 2002. He also provided his voice and likeness to Bond in the 2004 video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing. Since playing Bond, he has starred in such successes as The Matador (nominated for a Golden Globe, 2005), Mamma Mia! (National Movie Award, 2008), and The Ghost Writer (2010).

In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, a Los Angeles-based production company. In later years, he has become known for his charitable work and environmental activism.

He was married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris from 1980 until her death in 1991. He married American journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith in 2001, and he became an American citizen in 2004.

Early life[link]

Brosnan was born at Saint Mary's Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth,^[1] Ireland, to Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter, and May (née Smith, born circa 1934), and was their only child. He lived in Navan, County Meath for 12 years and considers it his hometown.^[2] Brosnan's father abandoned the family when Pierce was an infant. When he was four years old, his mother moved to London to work as a nurse. From that point on, he was largely brought up by his grandparents, Philip and Kathleen Smith.^[3] After their deaths, he lived with an aunt and then an uncle, but was subsequently sent to live in a boarding house run by a woman named Eileen.^[4]

According to Brosnan,

"Childhood was fairly solitary. I grew up in a very small town called Navan in County Meath. I never knew my father. He left when I was an infant and I was left in the care of my mother and my grandparents. To be Catholic in the '50s, and to be Irish Catholic in the '50s, and have a marriage which was not there, a father who was not there, consequently, the mother, the wife suffered greatly. My mother was very courageous. She took the bold steps to go away and be a nurse in England. Basically wanting a better life for her and myself. My mother came home once a year, twice a year."^[4]

Brosnan was brought up in a Roman Catholic^[5][6][7] family and educated in a local school run by the Christian Brothers while serving as an altar boy.^[7] Brosnan has expressed contempt for his education by the Christian Brothers.^[4] In spite of this, Brosnan still attends Mass, but adheres to his own spiritual beliefs. When asked in a 2008 Reader's Digest interview if he still practised Catholicism, Brosnan replied, "I was an altar boy. That never leaves you. So when there are churches around, I go to church. I just went yesterday. I also love the teachings of Buddhist philosophy. It's my own private faith. I don't preach it, but it's a faith that is a comfort to me when the night is long."^[7]

Brosnan left Ireland on 12 August 1964 and was reunited with his mother and her new husband, a British World War II veteran, William Carmichael, now living in the Scottish village of Longniddry, East Lothian.^[8][9] Brosnan quickly embraced his mother's new husband as a father figure.^[8] Carmichael took Brosnan to see a James Bond film for the first time (Goldfinger), at the age of 11.^[10] Later moving back to London, Brosnan was educated at Elliott School, a state comprehensive school in Putney, West London.^[11] Brosnan has spoken about the transition from Ireland to England and his education in London; "When you go to a very large city, a metropolis like London, as an Irish boy of 10, life suddenly moves pretty fast. From a little school of, say, seven classrooms in Ireland, to this very large comprehensive school, with over 2,000 children. And you're Irish. And they make you feel it; the British have a wonderful way of doing that, and I had a certain deep sense of being an outsider."^[4] When he attended school, his nickname was "Irish".^[12]

After leaving school at 16, he decided to be a painter and began training in commercial illustration at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.^[13] At the Oval House in 1969, he came to a workshop to rehearse. A fire eater was teaching women how to put the flames across the chest while topless, and he decided to join in and learned how to fire-eat.^[14] A circus agent saw him busking and hired him for three years.^[3] He later trained for three years as an actor at the Drama Centre London.^[15] Brosnan has described the feeling of becoming an actor and the impact it had on his life: "When I found acting, or when acting found me, it was a liberation. It was a stepping stone into another life, away from a life that I had, and acting was something I was good at, something which was appreciated. That was a great satisfaction in my life."^[4]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

After graduating from the Drama Centre in 1975, Brosnan began working as an acting assistant stage manager at the York Theatre Royal, making his acting debut in Wait Until Dark. Within six months, he was selected by playwright Tennessee Williams to play the role of McCabe in the British première of The Red Devil Battery Sign.^[16] His performance caused a stir in London and Brosnan still has the telegram sent by Williams, stating only "Thank God for you, my dear boy".^[17] In 1977 he was picked by Franco Zeffirelli to appear in the play Filumena by Eduardo De Filippo opposite Joan Plowright and Frank Finlay.^[18]

He continued his career making brief appearances in films such as The Long Good Friday (1980) and The Mirror Crack'd (1980), as well as early television performances in The Professionals, Murphy's Stroke, and Play for Today. He became a television star in the United States with his leading role in the popular miniseries Manions of America.^[19] He followed this with his 1982 Masterpiece Theatre documentary that chronicled the life of Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to sit in British Parliament. His portrayal of Robert Gould Shaw II garnered him a 1985 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.^[20]

In 1982, Brosnan moved to Southern California and rose to popularity in the United States playing the title role in the NBC romantic detective series Remington Steele.^[1][8] The Washington Post noted that same year that Brosnan "could make it as a young James Bond."^[21] After Remington Steele ended in 1987, Brosnan went on to appear in several films, including The Fourth Protocol (1987), a Cold War thriller in which he starred alongside Michael Caine, The Deceivers and James Clavell's Noble House both in (1988), and The Lawnmower Man (1992). In 1992, he shot a pilot for NBC called Running Wilde, playing a reporter for Auto World magazine. Jennifer Love Hewitt played his daughter. The pilot never aired, however.^[22] In 1993 he played a supporting role in the comedy film Mrs. Doubtfire. He also appeared in several television films, including Victim of Love (1991), Death Train (1993) and Night Watch (1995), a spy thriller set in Hong Kong.

James Bond (1995–2004)[link]

Brosnan first met James Bond films producer Albert R. Broccoli on the sets of For Your Eyes Only because his first wife, Cassandra Harris, was in the film. Broccoli said, "if he can act… he's my guy" to inherit the role of Bond from Roger Moore.^[21] It was reported by both Entertainment Tonight and the National Enquirer, that Brosnan was going to inherit another role of Moore's, that of Simon Templar in The Saint.^[21] Brosnan denied the rumours in July 1993 but added, "it's still languishing there on someone's desk in Hollywood."^[23]

In 1986, Timothy Dalton was approached for the Bond role; his involvement with the 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr kept him from being able to accept it. A number of actors were then screen-tested for the role – notably Sam Neill — but were ultimately passed over by Broccoli.^[24] Remington Steele was about to end, so Brosnan was offered the role, but the publicity revived Remington Steele and Brosnan had to decline the role, owing to his contract.^[21] By then, Dalton had become available again, and he accepted the role for The Living Daylights (1987), and Licence to Kill (1989). Legal squabbles about ownership of the film franchise resulted in the cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991 (rumoured title: The Property of a Lady)^[25] and put the series on a hiatus, which lasted six years. On 7 June 1994, Brosnan was announced as the fifth actor to play Bond.^[21]

Brosnan was signed for a three-film Bond deal with the option of a fourth. The first, 1995's GoldenEye, grossed US $350 million worldwide,^[26] the fourth highest worldwide gross of any film in 1995,^[27] making it the most successful Bond film since Moonraker, taking inflation into account.^[28] It holds an 80% Rotten tomato rating,^[29] while Metacritic holds it at 65%.^[30] In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and said Brosnan's Bond was "somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's "loss of innocence" since previous films.^[31] James Berardinelli described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm", but added that "fully one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding."^[32]

In 1996, Brosnan formed a film production company entitled "Irish DreamTime" along with producing partner and long time friend Beau St. Clair.^[1] Three years later the company's first studio project, The Thomas Crown Affair, was released and met both critical and box office success.^[33]

Brosnan returned in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and 1999's The World Is Not Enough, which were also successful. In 2002, Brosnan appeared for his fourth time as Bond in Die Another Day, receiving mixed reviews but was a success at the box office. Brosnan himself subsequently criticised many aspects of his fourth Bond movie. During the promotion, he mentioned that he would like to continue his role as James Bond: "I'd like to do another, sure. Connery did six. Six would be a number, then never come back."^[34] Brosnan asked Eon Productions when accepting the role, to be allowed to work on other projects between Bond films. The request was granted, and for every Bond film, Brosnan appeared in at least two other mainstream films, including several he produced,^[12] playing a wide range of roles, ranging from a scientist in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks!, to the title role in Grey Owl which documents the life of Englishman Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, one of Canada's first conservationists. During a press conference for Grey Owl 1999 Tom Green serenaded star Pierce Brosnan and kissed him surreptitiously filming a segment for `The Tom Green Show` Thinking Green was a journalist Brosnan advised him not to give up his `day job`

Shortly after the release of Die Another Day, the media began questioning whether or not Brosnan would reprise the role for a fifth time. Brosnan kept in mind that both fans and critics were unhappy with Roger Moore playing the role until he was 58, but he was receiving popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth instalment. For this reason, he remained enthusiastic about reprising his role.^[35] Throughout 2004, it was rumoured that negotiations had broken down between Brosnan and the producers to make way for a new and younger actor.^[36] This was denied by MGM and Eon Productions. In July 2004, Brosnan announced that he was quitting the role, stating "Bond is another lifetime, behind me".^[37] In October 2004, Brosnan said he considered himself dismissed from the role.^[38] Although Brosnan had been rumoured frequently as still in the running to play 007, he had denied it several times, and in February 2005 he posted on his website that he was finished with the role.^[39] Daniel Craig took over the role on 14 October 2005.^[40] In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Brosnan was asked what he thought of Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. He replied, "I'm looking forward to it like we're all looking forward to it. Daniel Craig is a great actor and he's going to do a fantastic job".^[41] He reaffirmed this support in an interview to the International Herald Tribune, stating that "[Craig's] on his way to becoming a memorable Bond."^[42]

During his tenure on the James Bond films, Brosnan also took part in James Bond video games. In 2002, Brosnan's likeness was used as the face of Bond in the James Bond video game Nightfire (voiced by Maxwell Caulfield). In 2004, Brosnan starred in the Bond game Everything or Nothing, contracting for his likeness to be used as well as doing the voice-work for the character.^[43] He also starred along with Jamie Lee Curtis and Geoffrey Rush in The Tailor of Panama in 2001, and lent his voice to The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XII", as a machine with Pierce Brosnan's voice.

Post-James Bond[link]

Brosnan (2nd from the left) with the cast of Mamma Mia! and ABBA (1st, 5th, and 6th from left and 2nd from right)

Since 2004, Brosnan has talked of backing a film about Caitlin Macnamara, wife of poet Dylan Thomas,^[44] the title role to be played by Miranda Richardson. Brosnan's first post-Bond role was that of Daniel Rafferty in 2004's Laws of Attraction. Garreth Murphy, of entertainment.ie, described Brosnan's performance as "surprisingly effective, gently riffing off his James Bond persona and supplementing it with a raffish energy".^[45] In the same year, Brosnan starred in After the Sunset alongside Salma Hayek and Woody Harrelson. The film elicited generally negative reviews and a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[46] Brosnan's next film was 2005's The Matador. He starred as Julian Noble, a jaded, neurotic assassin who meets a travelling salesman (Greg Kinnear) in a Mexican bar. The film garnered generally positive reviews.^[47] Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times called Brosnan's performance the best of his career.^[48] Brosnan was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, but lost to Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line.^[49] In December 2005, Brosnan was reported to be starring in The November Man, an adaptation of Bill Granger's novel, There Are No Spies,^[50] but the project was cancelled in 2007.

In 2007, Brosnan appeared in the film Seraphim Falls alongside fellow Irishman Liam Neeson. The film was released for limited screenings on 26 January 2007 to average reviews. Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times noted that Brosnan and Neeson made "fine adversaries;"^[51] Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter thought that they were "hard-pressed to inject some much-needed vitality into their sparse lines."^[52] During the same year, Brosnan spoke of making a western with fellow Irishmen Gabriel Byrne and Colm Meaney.^[53] In that same year Brosnan starred as Tom Ryan in Butterfly on a Wheel.

In 2008, Brosnan joined Meryl Streep in the film adaption of the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!.^[54] He played Sam Carmichael, one of three men rumoured to be the father of lead Amanda Seyfried, while Streep played her mother.^[55] Judy Craymer, producer to the film, said "Pierce brings a certain smooch factor, and we think he'll have great chemistry with Meryl in a romantic comedy."^[56] Brosnan's preparation in singing for the role included walking up and down the coast and singing karaoke to his own voice for about six weeks, followed by rehearsals in New York in which he noted he "sounded dreadful."^[57] Brosnan's singing in the film was generally disparaged by critics, with his singing compared in separate reviews to the sound of a water buffalo,^[58] a donkey,^[59] and a wounded raccoon.^[60] In September 2008, Brosnan provided the narration for the Thomas & Friends special The Great Discovery.

In 2009, Brosnan starred in The Big Biazarro, (alternative title The Ace), an adaptation of the Leonard Wise novel, directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall. Brosnan portrayed a card player who mentors a headstrong protégé.^[61] Also In 2009, Brosnan finished the well-received The Ghost Writer, playing a disgraced British Prime Minister, directed and produced by Roman Polanski. The film won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. He starred as Charles Hawkins in the film Remember Me and as Chiron in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, both released in 2010.

His latest announced project is a role in the Danny DeVito-helmed feature Charlotte Doyle, an adaptation of the novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, in which he will appear alongside Morgan Freeman.^[62]

Personal life[link]

Brosnan met Australian actress Cassandra Harris through David Harris, one of Richard Harris' nephews, in 1977, shortly after he left drama school.^[1] On meeting her, he has described his feelings, saying, "What a beautiful looking woman. I never for an instant thought she was someone I'd spend 17 years of my life with. I didn't think of wooing her, or attempting to woo her; I just wanted to enjoy her beauty and who she was."^[4] They began dating, and eventually bought a house in Wimbledon. They married on 27 December 1980 and had one son together, Sean, who was born on 13 September 1983. They lived with her children, Charlotte and Christopher, and after their father Dermot Harris died in 1986, he adopted them and they took the surname Brosnan.^[1][63]

Financially, Brosnan was concerned about earning enough money to get by at this time, and supplemented their income by working in West End productions, and a television film about Irish horse racing.^[4] Soon after Harris appeared in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only in 1981, with a bank loan, they moved to southern California where Brosnan had his first interview in Hollywood for Remington Steele, and subsequently no longer had financial worries.

When Remington Steele was sent to Ireland to film an episode there, generating significant publicity in doing so, Brosnan was briefly reunited with his father who visited his hotel. Brosnan had expected to see a very tall man, but describes his father as "a man of medium stature, pushed-back silver hair, flinty eyes and a twizzled jaw. He had a very strong Kerry accent."^[4] However, Brosnan expresses regret that they met under such circumstances in a public environment rather than on his own terms which would have given him the opportunity to speak privately with him.^[4]

While filming The Deceivers in Rajasthan, India, in 1987, his wife Cassandra Harris became seriously ill. She was later diagnosed with ovarian cancer and she died as a result of the illness in December 1991, aged 43.^[64] Brosnan struggled to cope with her cancer and death: "When your partner gets cancer, then life changes. Your timetable and reference for your normal routines and the way you view life, all this changes. Because you're dealing with death. You're dealing with the possibility of death and dying. And it was that way through the chemotherapy, through the first-look operation, the second look, the third look, the fourth look, the fifth look. Cassie was very positive about life. I mean, she had the most amazing energy and outlook on life. It was and is a terrible loss, and I see it reflected, from time to time, in my children."^[4] Harris had always wanted Brosnan to play the role of James Bond, and in 1995, some four years after her death, Brosnan achieved this when he appeared in GoldenEye.

In 1994, Brosnan met American journalist Keely Shaye Smith in Mexico. In 2001, at Ballintubber Abbey in County Mayo, Ireland, they married.^[1][65] They have two sons together, Dylan Thomas Brosnan (birth 13 January 1997) and Paris Beckett Brosnan (birth 27 February 2001).^[3]

In July 2003, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Brosnan an honorary OBE for his "outstanding contribution to the British film industry".^[66] As an Irish citizen, he is ineligible to receive the full OBE honour, which is awarded only to a citizen of the Commonwealth realms. In 2002, Brosnan was also awarded an Honorary degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology^[67] and, one year later, the University College Cork.^[68]

On 23 September 2004, Brosnan became a citizen of the United States, but retained his Irish citizenship. Brosnan said that "my Irishness is in everything I do. It's the spirit of who I am, as a man, an actor, a father. It's where I come from."^[34] Brosnan was asked by a fan if it annoyed him when people get his nationality confused. He said: "It amuses me in some respects that they should confuse me with an Englishman when I'm dyed-in-the-wool, born and bred Irishman...I don't necessarily fly under any flag. But no, it doesn't bother me."^[69]

Environmental and charitable work[link]

Pierce Brosnan at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2005.

Pierce Brosnan has been an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland since 2001 and recorded a special announcement to mark the launch of UNICEF's "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" Campaign with Liam Neeson.^[70] Brosnan supported John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election and is a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage.^[71]

Brosnan first became aware of nuclear disarmament at the age of nine when worldwide condemnation of the 1962 U.S. nuclear tests in Nevada headlined international news.^[1] During the 1990s, he participated in news conferences in Washington, D.C. to help Greenpeace draw attention to the issue.^[1] Brosnan boycotted the French GoldenEye premiere to support Greenpeace's protest against the French nuclear testing program.^[72] From 1997 to 2000, Brosnan and wife Smith worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to stop a proposed salt factory from being built at Laguna San Ignacio.^[1] The couple with Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford and Daryl Hannah successfully fought the Cabrillo Port Liquefied Natural Gas facility that was proposed off the coast of Malibu and would cause damage to the marine life there; the State Lands Commission eventually denied the lease to build the terminal.^[73] In May 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the facility.^[74] Brosnan is also listed as a member of the Sea Shepherd's Board of Advisors.^[75] Brosnan was named 'Best-dressed Environmentalist' by the Sustainable Style Foundation in 2004.^[76]

Brosnan also raises money for charitable causes through sales of his paintings. He trained early on as an artist, but later shifted to theatre; during his first wife's terminal illness, he withdrew from acting to be with her and took up painting again for therapeutic reasons, producing colourful landscapes and family portraits. He has continued painting since then, using spare time on set and at home. Profits from sales of giclée prints of his works are given to a trust to benefit "environmental, children's and women's health charities."^[1] Since Harris' death, Brosnan has been an advocate for cancer awareness and, in 2006, he served as spokesperson for Lee National Denim Day, a breast cancer fundraiser which raises millions of dollars and raises more money in a single day than any other breast cancer fundraiser.^[77]

In May 2007, Brosnan and Smith donated $100,000 to help replace a playground on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where they own a home.^[78] On 7 July 2007, Brosnan presented a film at Live Earth in London.^[79] He also recorded a television advertisement for the cause.^[1] Brosnan lives with his family in Malibu, California.

Filmography[link]